New Securitize Fund Requires Minimum Investment of $20,000, Down from ~$5 Million, Tokenized Exclusively on Polygon
Individual investors can now access Hamilton Lane‘s flagship direct equity fund, Equity Opportunities Fund V through a new Securitize feeder fund tokenized on Polygon. Leading private markets investment firm Hamilton Lane recently closed the Fund on nearly $2.1 billion of investor commitments, and is making a portion of the vehicle accessible via a feeder fund on a secondary basis to individual investors. The new tokenized fund will significantly increase access to this historically high-performing asset class, with minimum investments reduced from an average of $5 million traditionally to $20,000.
Securitize is the leading platform for expanding access to some of the highest-performing, real-world, private markets asset classes, which have historically been inaccessible to most investors, including private equity, venture capital, fine art and mature start-ups, consistent with U.S. regulations.
Hamilton Lane is one of the world’s largest investors and allocators of capital to the private markets, having deployed more than $37 billion across the private markets in 2021*, and with nearly $824 billion in assets under management and supervision, composed of more than $107 billion in discretionary assets and approximately $717 billion in non-discretionary assets, as of September 30, 2022. Equity Opportunities Fund V provides investors with diversified exposure to unique and differentiated deals through an efficient fee structure. Including this Fund, Hamilton Lane’s direct equity platform has raised approximately $3.7 billion since the outset of the fundraise. Currently comprising 30 investments in mostly mission-critical businesses, as of September 2022 Equity Opportunities Fund V has already achieved a strong gross internal rate of return.
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“The new Hamilton Lane tokenized fund is a major step in the continued democratization of the private markets by significantly expanding access to the historically high-performing private equity asset class, particularly through reduced investment minimums,” said Carlos Domingo, co-founder and CEO of Securitize. “Private equity has outperformed the S&P 500 by 70% over the past 20 years, but that performance has mostly been enjoyed by major institutions, sovereign wealth funds and university endowments. Individual investors can begin accessing these opportunities, too.”
The feeder fund will be accessible to qualified purchasers with at least $5 million in invested assets, of which there are approximately two million in the U.S. The fund is offered by Securitize’s registered investment advisor, Securitize Capital, through its broker-dealer and alternative trading system, Securitize Markets, which is also a member of FINRA and SIPC. Securitize and Hamilton Lane intend to launch two additional feeder funds in the months ahead.
Victor Jung, Head of Digital Assets at Hamilton Lane, commented: “Hamilton Lane is committed to investing in and adopting transformational solutions with an aim to deliver best-in-class services to investors looking to access the private markets. We’re excited to launch Equity Opportunities Fund V on the Securitize platform – our latest step towards helping more investors gain access to the historically strong returns and performance opportunities generated within the private markets, while increasing usability and transparency through the use of blockchain technology.”
Shares in the feeder fund will be tokenized on the Polygon blockchain, which is fully compatible with the Ethereum ecosystem, inheriting its robust security while also being orders of magnitude more efficient.
Highly regarded for its scalability, Polygon is rapidly becoming the blockchain of choice for major institutions with existing institutional partnerships ranging from BitGo, to Cumberland DRW and GSR, as well as multiple major brands from the retail, entertainment, tech, gaming, and payments space. The existing Polygon network is home to some of the biggest Web3 projects, such as Aave, Uniswap, and OpenSea, and well-known enterprises, including Robinhood, Stripe and Adobe. The Polygon blockchain is carbon neutral with the goal of leading Web3 in becoming carbon negative.
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“The tokenization of private funds is a massive leap forward for investors and fund managers – a broader pool of investors enticed by greater opportunity and disintermediation – but also for the greater understanding that practical applications of blockchain will make a marked difference in democratizing financial opportunity,” stated Colin Butler, Global Head of Institutional Capital at Polygon Labs. “Polygon makes these asset classes accessible, secure, and scalable, and frankly the Polygon network is being built to become the home of global financial markets.”
The new tokenized feeder fund is offered by Securitize’s registered investment advisor, Securitize Capital, through its broker-dealer and alternative trading system, Securitize Markets, which is also a member of FINRA and SIPC.
*The 2021 capital committed includes all primary commitments that closed during the year 2021 for which Hamilton Lane retains a level of discretion as well as nondiscretionary advisory client commitments for which Hamilton Lane performed due diligence and made an investment recommendation. Direct Investments includes all discretionary and nondiscretionary advisory direct equity and direct credit investments that closed during 2021. Secondaries includes all discretionary and nondiscretionary advisory secondary investments with a signing date during 2021.
Definitions:
All Private Equity – Hamilton Lane’s definition of “All Private Equity” includes all buyout, venture capital, and growth equity funds.
Buyout – Any Private Markets fund that generally takes control position by buying a company.
MSCI USA Small Cap Value Index – The MSCI USA Small Cap Index is designed to measure the performance of the small cap segment of the U.S. equity market.
MSCI World Index – The MSCI World Index tracks large and mid-cap equity performance in developed market countries. Russell 3000 Index.
S&P 500 Index – The S&P 500 Index tracks 500 largest companies based on market capitalization of companies listed on NYSE or NASDAQ.
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